Vending machine offers freshly made pizzas in less than three minutes

Vending machine pizza? With a push of button and few bucks, hungry consumers can order a pizza and watch it being made.

The Let's Pizza machine, first introduced in Italy in 2009, uses fresh dough and toppings, and a pizza with a 27-centimetre diameter, literally pops out in two and half a minutes, according to A1 Concepts website.

By:Vanessa LuBusiness Reporter, Published on Wed Jun 13 2012

With a touch of a button, consumers can buy everything from drinks and snacks to books and gold bars in a vending machine.

Now a European company plans to add freshly made pizza to the items on offer in the United States.

The Let’s Pizza machine, first introduced in Italy in 2009, uses fresh dough and toppings, and a pizza with a 27-centimetre diameter, literally pops out in two and half a minutes, according to A1 Concepts website, a company based in the Netherlands that plans to bring the machines to the U.S. later this year.

Developed by Italian entrepreneur Claudio Torghele, customers can watch dough being kneaded, shaped into a crust, where tomato sauce is added along with other toppings. Because each machine, which accepts debit and credit cards, is connected to the Internet, inventory can be monitored.

In an interview with Pizza Marketplace, an industry website, A1 Concepts’ CEO Ronald Rammers said the suggested retail price for a 27-centimetre pizza will be $5.95 (U.S.), but in certain locations, machines could charge more such as a theme park.

“We will offer local operators the responsibility to be in charge of one or more machines. There are also companies — national companies — that want to do the entire operation,” Rammers told the website.

But John Chetti, one of the owners of Queen Margherita Pizza in Toronto’s east end, doesn’t believe such pizzas would offer an authentic taste.

He also questioned whether the machine would use fresh fior di latte mozzarella or some sort of processed cheese.

At Queen Margherita, a 16-inch pizza (40-centimetre) with cheese and sauce is $13.95.

“I would eat that every day,” Chetti said.

Pat Finelli, chief marketing officer for the Pizza Pizza chain, said demand for pizza has grown, noting how many supermarkets now offer their own fresh pizza as well as the variety of frozen pizza available.

“I’ve seen everything in my 28 years. I am not surprised to hear about a vending machine. Everybody does love pizza,” he said.

“But will it succeed? I don’t know. We’ll see,” Finelli said, questioning how long the various toppings will have been in the machine by the time customers order. “That would be my concern.”

More on thestar.com

We value respectful and thoughtful discussion. Readers are encouraged to flag comments that fail to meet the standards outlined in our
Community Code of Conduct.
For further information, including our legal guidelines, please see our full website
Terms and Conditions.